The present invention is an improvement of the inventions disclosed and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/824,163 and 10/881,435, each of which is directed to banded billing for telecommunication services.
As described in application Ser. No. 10/824,163, a service provider may maintain a banded pricing schedule that designates monthly charges corresponding with varying ranges (or “bands”) of use per month. Each month, the service provider may then determine how many minutes or other increments a subscriber actually used and may refer to the banded pricing schedule to determine which range that number of minutes or other increments falls into and to identify a monthly charge for that range. The service provider may then apply that charge to the subscriber's account.
Similarly, as described in application Ser. No. 10/881,435, a service provider may maintain a banded pricing schedule that designates monthly charges corresponding with varying ranges (or “bands”) of use per month. Each month, the service provider may then determine how many increments of data a subscriber communicated (sent and/or received) and may refer to the banded pricing schedule to determine which range that number of increments falls into and to identify a monthly charge for that range. The service provider may then apply that charge to the subscriber's account.